The Horn Church and the Haarlemmerstraat

Built between 1860 and 1863 according to the design by a prominent Amsterdam architect P.J.H. Cuypers, the elegant Posthoornkerk (the Horn Church) is a transept basilica in Neo-Gothis style. The floor plan is laid out in the shape of a cross and the exterior features two distinctive spires. The church features a cloverleaf-shaped choir and two tiers of galleries. It was built atop a clandestine Catholic church by the same name active in the 17th and 18th centuries. The Posthoornkerk now houses the Center for New Choral Music. Running east to west and parallel to the Brouwersgracht to its north, is the Haarlemmerstraat and its extension, the Haarlemmerdijk. This is a bustling, and quite narrow, thoroughfare peppered with boutiques and antique shops, supermarkets, electronics, photo, paint and household item stores, coffee shops and cafes, juiceries, bakeries, fish shops, bars and restaurants and, almost all the way at its western end, the oldest and arguably the coziest cinema in Amsterdam. 235 stores offer clothes and accessories, toys, gifts, jewelry, books, cameras, drinks and food. On Wednesdays there's an organic farmers market on Haarlemerplein. Thursday evenings, during the weekly shopping night, the stores are open until 9:00PM, instead of the usual 6:00PM other days of the week. The street and its extension, as the name suggests, runs all the way to Haarlem, a town about 12 kms west of Amsterdam. Please be careful when stepping off the curb! This busy street with narrow sidewalks is open to car and bike traffic, which is dense through the day and peaks in the morning hours and late afternoons.